FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT FAMILY FEUD - PAGE 2

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A bitter legal battle between Gina Rinehart and her children over control of Australia's largest mining fortune could ultimately lead to a shift of power in the board room and loosen the tycoon's legendary grip on her business empire. Asia's richest woman is being sued by two of her children who accuse Rinehart of breaching her duty as the sole trustee of a $4 billion family trust. She denies acting improperly and recently agreed to step down as trustee. But the feud, which has gripped Australia as details of the family's testy relationships have been laid bare in personal emails tendered to the court, still has a risk of playing out in the boardroom of privately held Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. With the disputed trust and Rinehart the only shareholders, her power over Hancock Prospecting has been virtually absolute as the sole trustee of the fund for her four children.

* Appeal to March decision allowing open court hearing * Children allege misconduct by Rinehart as trustee By Lincoln Feast SYDNEY, April 20 (Reuters) - Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart lost an appeal for a confidential court hearing over the handling of a multi-billion family trust, pitting her in open court against three of her children over an empire started by her mining pioneer father. Rinehart had argued that under an agreement reached by the family in 2006 and 2007, the dispute should be settled through private arbitration or mediation.

MTHATHA, South Africa (Reuters) - A feud between factions of Nelson Mandela's family descended into soap opera farce on Thursday when his grandson and heir, Mandla, accused relatives of adultery and milking the fame of the revered anti-apartheid leader. In a news conference broadcast live on TV that stunned South Africans, Mandla Mandela confirmed rumors that his young son, Zanethemba, was in fact the child of an illicit liaison between his brother Mbuso and Mandla's now ex-wife Anais Grimaud.

A New York boutique hotel on Monday said it was investigating how a recording of a security video that purportedly shows rapper Jay Z being attacked by his sister-in-law, R&B singer Solange Knowles, was leaked to a website. The video posted by celebrity website TMZ.com appears to show the 27-year-old Knowles, younger sister of Beyonce, charging and striking Jay Z several times in an elevator at the Standard Hotel in New York's Meatpacking District before being restrained. Beyonce looks on in the three-and-a-half-minute video without audio, which quickly became an internet sensation, sparking several parody videos and photos.

The Blagojevich-Mell family feud is an utter embarrassment. As a taxpayer frustrated by declining city and state services, City Hall scandals, CTA woes and outrageous property taxes, I wish both Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his father-in-law, Ald. Dick Mell (33rd), would have the "testicular virility" to put their ridiculous squabble to rest. If these guys spent half as much time trying to fix our problems as they do on trying to destroy one another, they might actually get some work done.

Fox Sports fired employee Bill Ociepka after he admittedly leaked a Bears secret last season. Now, even though Fox Sports denies Lovie Smith suggested they fire Ociepka, Rick Morrissey sympathizes with Ociepka's whining that Lovie's not treating him as "family" in the same way he's treating Tank Johnson. This octogenarian has been a Bears fan way longer than Ociepka has been alive, but I'd never expect Lovie Smith to consider me a member of the "Bears family." ---------- Sound off If you have an opinion, drop us a line at Other Views/Sports, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611.

It'll be "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" versus "Cake Boss" on a special episode of "Family Feud," as the families featured on the two TLC programs face off to win money for their favorite charities. Mama June, Alana (also known as Honey Boo Boo), Pumpkin, Chickadee, Chubbs and Sugar Bear will rep for the "Honey Boo Boo" clan, while Buddy, Maddalena, Lisa, Mary and Elisabetta will compete from "Cake Boss." Special episode of the syndicated series will be taped in Atlanta on July 22, and air this fall with "Family Feud's" new season.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart, one of the world's richest women, wants to relinquish control over a $4 billion family trust, after several years of legal wrangling with her children over who gets what and when. Lawyers for Rinehart, 59, told a court that the legal battle with two of her four children, which has been played out in public and captivated Australia, had placed huge pressure on their client but was now "effectively over". Bruce McClintock, one of Rinehart's lawyers, said the two-year legal fight between the tycoon and her children, John Hancock and Bianca Hope Rinehart, had created "untenable risk" of damage to Hancock Prospecting Group, the mining company established by her late father and the source of her wealth.

Dear Abby: Two years ago my niece (by marriage) sold me a ring with a tiny diamond in it for $400. She said she needed the money, and although I had no use for the ring, I bought it just to help her out. Last summer my 17-year-old granddaughter who lives out of state came to visit me. I had not seen her in four years and was so delighted with the way she had matured, I gave her the ring. When my nephew and his wife found out about it, they hit the ceiling. You would think I had committed some kind of crime.